Isaiah - Lesson 19

Dr. John Oswalt

Isaiah

ot650-19

Israel is Unable to do Righteousness

Lesson Transcript

We have been working up the front side of what I've labeled a chasm. We have seen Part A. Foreigners who are approved for their righteousness. We have seen Part B Israel. Unable to do righteousness. Then we've seen part C. Grace for the contrite. Then we come back to bb2 and seen again, maybe even in more detail Israel's inability to do righteousness, their tendency to. Do ritual for their own sake to try to manipulate God and the result being and inability to do justice or righteousness and to plunge themselves into the deepest darkness. What to do. I think it's significant that the change coming to Part D. Is right in the middle of a verse. Chapter 59, verse 15. Truth is nowhere to be found. Whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. Hmm. This is us. This is what we look like. This is what we've accomplished. And the Lord looked and said, Hmm, that's not good. He saw that there was no one. He was appalled that there was no one to intervene. So his own. Ahm achieved salvation for him and his own righteousness sustained him. Oh, now, wait a minute. If we're right, these people have been saved. They've been delivered from Babylon. They're back home again. But he's working salvation. Need to think about that. He put on righteousness as his breastplate and the helmet of salvation on his head. He put on the garments of vengeance, wrapped himself in zeal, as in a cloak, according to what they have done. So will he repay wrath to his enemies? Hmm. Who's that? And retribution to his foes. He will repay the ends of the earth. The islands. They're due from the West.

People will fear the name of the Lord from the rising of the sun will revere His glory, for He will come like a pent up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along the Redeemer will come to Zion. To those in Jacob who repent of their sins, declares the Lord. Boy, that's all tangled up. What's he saying? Now. He is not a baby. Now he is not a suffering servant. Now he is a warrior. He comes. With that arm, no longer this spindly little arm that can hardly save itself. Now it is a 28 inch bicep. According to what they have done. So he will repay. We're talking about behavior. And he's going to attack his enemies. That's not. Zion. He says he's going to come to Zion. He's going to come to Jacob, who are his enemies. I suggest to you that his enemies are injustice, Unrighteousness, darkness, lies, shame. And he's come to attack them. He's come to destroy them. He's come. To enable. Jacob. To be the light to the nations. He's come to enable Zion to be that house of the Lord to which the nations can come. Now again, you say, how can you. Can you prove that? No, I can't. But I'm simply saying in the context here. I want the world to know me and I want to be able for them to be able to share my life. You folks are not doing it. You're not bringing light to the nations. You're not revealing my life and my character. Here I come. I come for those who are contrite. For those who are lonely. So I'm simply saying to you that it seems to me, as we trace the thought up this ladder and come to this rather shocking picture of this warrior who is acting alone.

Because he's troubled by what he sees in his people. I think the point is. God in his power can enable you and me to live his life. Before the world. Look how he goes on. As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. I've said to you before, we have to pay attention to pronouns. As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord, my spirit, who is on you. Isaiah. Will not depart from you. And my words that I've put in your mouth will always be on your lips. On the lips of your children, on the lips of their descendants from this time and forever. Hmm. Now, that has been a conundrum for commentators forever and ever. Who are we talking about here? I think. This is this is Oswald. And as I've said, I've been wrong at least once before. I think he's talking to Isaiah and he's saying, guess what? This message, this spirit empowered message, which you and your disciples have had to seal up in your own lifetime. Out there in the future, that message is going to bear fruit. I think that's what he's saying. Again, you say, can you prove that? And the answer, No, no. But I think that's what's going on, that that God is encouraging Isaiah at that moment to say. There will come a day when the message. Is going to be unsealed. On your lips. Your clean lips. On the lips of your children. Remember, he called his disciples his children. I think that's what's going on. It'll be fun to get to heaven and have Isaiah say, Where did you get that? But I think that's what's happening. Good news. Good news. The blindness, the deafness, the darkness.

It's going to be changed. And it has been. It has been. Think of it. Think of it. When Jesus died, he had 11 followers. You say, Well, actually, you had 120. Okay. Okay. But that's all. And what has happened? Oh, the message is borne fruit. The light has come to the nations. Good news. Well, however, we understand this. I want you to notice what happens next in chapter 60. We come now to what I'm calling Part E. We've come up the ladder, ABCD. Arise. Shine. Your light has come. Back in chapter 59. We wait for light, but all is darkness for brightness. But we walk in deep shadows. Arise. Shine that I just come. What's happened? The Divine Warrior is happened. Oh, my. This is good news. Your life and mine can be lamps. In which suddenly. A bright flame bursts forth. A flame that sends light all around it. Arise shine for your light has come The glory of the Lord rises upon you and see what it is Your light has come. What is your light? The glory of the Lord. We've talked about this before, Heavenly. What's God's glory? It's his significance, his reality, the certitude of who he is, is like a brick wall. His glory. Has arisen upon you. We can display the character of God. We. Can act with integrity when everyone around us is lying. We can live in purity. When everything around us is lewdness and lechery. We can be one thing. When all around us is deception and doubletalk. We can be truth when every relationship around us. It's filled with deceit and shame. No glory to us. It's his glory. Oh. Dare I say it? Our world. Your world. Mine needs that kind of light.

And oh, my. We look in the mirror and say, Oh, God, the lamp is pretty dingy. There's a lot of there's a lot of soot. On the lens. But at the same time, we can say with gratitude, Oh, God, what you've done with such poor material. Thank you. Praise you. Darkness covers the earth. Thick darkness is over the people's. We can believe that, can't we? But the Lord rises upon you and His glory. There it is again. Appears over you. Nations will come to your light. Kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you. I've talked before of the the anxiety of the people that they're going to lose their children. And what comes in these next verses is the kings of the nations are going to bring your children to you. Amazing. You'll look verse five and be radiant. Your heart will throb and swell with joy. The wealth of the seas will be brought to you. Not to tire. To you. To you. The riches of the nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land. So forth. Who are. This is verse eight. Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests? Surely the islands wait for me. There it is again. And I've sort of regularly says, Look to me. But. And that's not wrong. But it misses the flavor. Wait for me. Trust me. Expect me. The ends of the earth. In the lead are the ships of Tarshish bringing your children from afar with their silver and gold. To the honor of the Lord, your God, the Holy one of Israel. For he. He has endowed you with splendor. These thoughts just keep rolling over one another. He is your light.

He is the one shining through you. And the nations come to your light. Not yours. His, but his graciously given to you. Foreigners will rebuild your walls. Verse ten Their kings will serve you. Though, in anger. I struck you in favor. I'll show you compassion. That's what he said way back there in chapter 27 when he said, You've suffered, but not anything like those who have oppressed. You are going to suffer. Your gates will always stand open. They'll never be shot day or night so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations the Kings led in triumphal procession. So the chapter proceeds as it talks about what the nations are going to do to glorify the place of God's dwelling. Verse 13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you the juniper, the fir, the cypress together to adorn my sanctuary, not just to make you rich, but to adorn the sanctuary of God. I will glorify the place for my feet. Verse 15, though you've been forsaken and hated with no one traveling through. I'll make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all generations. God has done that for the physical city of Jerusalem. As I said to you earlier, that Babylon. Does not exist today. We didn't even know where it was for thousands of years. Jerusalem. That little hill, country city. Has remained and remained and remained and the glory of the nations has been brought to it again and again. God keeps his promises. Verse 19. The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you. For the Lord will be your everlasting light. And your God will be your glory. Very clearly, John Drew on this thought for his statement in the Book of Revelation as he describes the holy city there, there will be no sun, no moon, because the Lord will be the light who shines there.

You say so. So what's this talking about? Is it talking about Jerusalem? As it exists in 2020. Is it talking about Jerusalem as it will exist in the end of time, or is it talking about Jerusalem in the days of Jesus, Herod the Great? The answer is yes. I don't think we can break up all that is being said here. But it all is making this point, this wonderful point, that if you will let the divine warrior work in your life, you will be a light that draws the nations, not your light. He will be a light in you that draws the nations. And that's a spiritual reality. It's a physical reality and it's an eschatological reality all tangled up together. And one day we can take a seminar in heaven on this and see just how it all sorts out together. But. But that point your son will never set again. Your moon will weigh no more. The Lord will be your everlasting light. And your days of sorrow will end. Then all your people will be righteous. Remember Chapter 59. What happened? The warrior happened. Who came to defeat the power of sin in his people's lives. All your people will be righteous. They will possess the land forever. They are the shoot. I have planted the work of my hands for the display of my splendor. Hmm. Mai. Mai. Mai. Now, then. We come to what I have said is the climax. Who is this warrior? Who is this one who has defeated Sen? The spirit. Of the Lord your way. Is upon me because Yahweh has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim freedom for the captives released from darkness, for the prisoners to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort.

Comfort. Is there a connection between chapters 42, 55 and 56 to 66? Oh, yes. How is God going to fulfill the promise back there in chapter 40, verse one. Comfort. Comfort my people. He's going to do it through the Messiah. Through the servant to the warrior. Through the savior. To provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes. Do you remember? Chapter three. The Daughters of Zion Will. Step along. Tinkling their bracelets on their ankles with their scarves and their sashes and their headdresses and their mirrors and their. And there. And there. And God says, In place of beauty, there's going to be ashes. What's he say now? In place of ashes. Beauty. God's final purpose is never destruction. His final purpose is refinement and cleansing and restoration. To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy, instead of mourning a garment of praise, instead of the spirit of despair. It's just an exact reversal of what we saw back there in chapter three. And then they will be called Oaks of Righteousness. If you remember back in chapter one. And Isaiah says. You have made gardens for yourselves and you are oaks with falling leaves. They'll be called Oaks of Righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Yes. Yes. Why does God want to share his character with us So the world can see his character? So the world can see his reality, so the world can see what life is really meant to be. Now, before we leave this, I want to review for a moment what the book has said to us about the Messiah up to this point. So let's go back let's go back to Chapter nine.

First of all, as I emphasized when we were looking at it and have emphasized several times since, this is the child. God does not come initially in overwhelming power to just sort of steamroll anything or anyone that stands against him. No, he comes in weakness and God's power is his ability to absorb all the evil the world can give. And give back love. That's power. And that's the child that we see here. The child who is in spite of his apparent weakness. Wonderful counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting father, Prince of peace. And who is this child? Look at chapter 11. Once again, he is a tiny shoot coming up from the burned out stump of Jesse. But the spirit of the Lord rests on Him. He functions out of the power and the energy and the life of the spirit. Wisdom and understanding, counsel and might knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight. He will delight in the fear of the Lord. Oh, my goodness. What kind of a king is that? No, no. A king. A king. Delights in his power to make other people fear him. Not this king. Not this king. He won't judge by what he sees with his eyes. He won't decide by what he hears with these years. This king is going to be spirit empowered to see beyond the surface. To see beneath the surface. With righteousness. He will judge the needy with justice. He will give decisions for the poor, the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. It's the word. The word that will be both the condemnation of the world of evil and the resurrection of the world of righteousness. Verse five is a favorite of mine because all the all the translations try to be.

A little careful. This is the Navy. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness. The sash around his waist. Come on. What it really says is righteousness and faithfulness are his underwear. His loincloth. Now, again, the Bible is a little bit euphemistic. It's going to say, you know, it's the sash on his loins. Well, loins. Yeah. That's the genital part of your body. And I like it because it's saying the most intimate garment he could wear is his ability to do right for everyone in every circumstance and his absolute dependability, his truth, his faithfulness. They are his most intimate garments. Then to chapter 16. Verse five. In love, a throne will be established in faithfulness. A man will sit on it, one from the House of David, who, in judging, seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness. Love, truth, righteousness, which by justice, all these qualities that are qualities of God will be those of the coming King. Then to Chapter 32. C a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams in the desert, the shadow of a great rock and a thirsty land. Yes. Yes. Not these self-serving rulers who devour the sheep, but rather the one who will reign for them. That, of course, then is developed much further in chapter 33, where virtually the entire chapter is about the Messiah. But come to verse 22 of Chapter 33. The Lord is our judge. The Lord is our law giver. The Lord is our King. It is He who will save us. Who is this Messiah? Here's your way. Hmm. Then we go to the service songs. Particularly look, please, at chapter 42.

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him. Chapter 11. Chapter 61. And he will bring mesh pot to the nations. God's divine order to life. And as we pointed out when we talked about it three times, that point is made. He's going to bring God's order. He's going to be the judge that Gideon never was, that Samson never was that even Samuel never was. He's going to be the judge who delivers us from the results of our sin. When you look back at the Book of Judges, those guys are not primarily legal officers. They are champions. Who defeat sin and enable people to live the life of God. So all of that, I want to say to you comes to its climax in chapter 61. And it is no accident whatsoever that Jesus used those verses. To announce his Messiah ship. It all comes to its point there. So who is the child? The Messiah. Who is the spirit filled king? The Messiah. Who is the servant? Who dies in order to restore God's image part to the world. The Messiah. Who is the divine warrior who comes to defeat the power of sin? The missile. This is why I said back in that first lecture. If you only have one book, have all the 66. Keep. Keep Isaiah here. Here is the sweep of what God means to do in his world for us. All right, let's look on. In chapter 61. We're starting back down the ladder now. This is. The first E was chapter 60. This is the second E, And we're starting back down with a revelation of what the nation looks like in the light of the Divine Warriors work.

They will rebuild. This is verse four of 61. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated. They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Strangers will shepherd your flocks. Foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the Lord. You will be named ministers of our God. That's exactly what Exodus Chapter 19, verse five and six say. If you keep this covenant, you will be my most precious possession. You will become. A holy nation. A royal priesthood. Finally, finally, we are coming to the consummation of that promise. Other people will take care of your daily life so that you can minister to God. For the people. And minister to people for God. Your lives as a nation will be to be a holy people for the sake of the world. Verse seven Instead of your shame, you will receive a double portion instead of the disgrace. You will rejoice in your inheritance, so you will inherit a double portion in your land. And everlasting joy will be yours. Remember after 35. Double portion. What's that about? When a man died. His estate was divided into equal portions. The first born son got a double portion. The wife and the rest of the children each got one portion. What's he saying? You're going to be my first born son's. You're going to be the one through whom the family line is carried on. You're going to be the one through whom the patriarchal blessing will be transferred to the rest of the world. Why? Mercy because I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness, I'll reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. Now, wait a minute.

Look at that verse for a minute. Couldn't we just skip the first two sentences? Couldn't we just say, in my faithfulness, I'll reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them? Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. No. No. Again, if you are my child, if you are my firstborn son, then you're going to replicate my life. You're going to replicate my behavior. You two are going to love this spot. God's divine order. You two are going to hate robbery and wrongdoing, especially in your own life. Their descendants will be known among the nations, their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people. The Lord has blessed. Oh, what do you mean, made us rich, huh? No, no, no, no. Of people whom the Lord has given light. In place of darkness. Then Zion speaks. I delight in the Lord. My soul rejoices in my God. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. You are the blessing, Lord. You are the one who has blessed me. And so I delight in you. Four, He has clothed me with garments of salvation. And arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness. We talked about this before. New Testament makes it clear that righteousness comes to us in two ways. Number one, it is imputed, he says to us, because of the blood of Christ in your life. You are now right with me. But then there is imparted righteousness. I'm going to give you the quality of my life. And so as we look at this verse and again, I'm not certain, but I think this is one where the RSV says, I wrote a read me in a robe of vindication. That's to limit righteousness to just one aspect. He has closed me with garments of salvation.

He has arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness. He has made me like himself so that his light can shine out of the lantern of my life. As a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and the garden causes seeds to grow. So the Lord Yahweh will make righteousness and praise. Spring up before all the nations. Yes. Yes. Now. Please hear me. I'm speaking to you forcefully about the need for believers to display the righteousness of God. This is a gift. Imputed righteousness is a gift imparted righteousness is a gift. This is not something we produce. It is something that comes to us through our cooperation with God. But. It is his work. His work. For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent for Jerusalem sake. I will not remain quiet till her righteousness. Now, here, the NIV, as far as I'm concerned, chokes till her vindication shines out like the dawn night. Still, her righteousness shines out like the dawn. Again. It's both. It's both. A position. And they condition. And please hear me. Do you see why I say this? I say this in the context of this whole passage which says you haven't been righteous. There have been foreigners and eunuchs who've been more righteous than you. You haven't been. And therefore, your light has been darkness. But I come in power in order that your light may be light before all the world. Okay. The nations will see your righteousness. And all the kings, your glory. You'll be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. You'll be a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand. A royal diadem in the hand of your God.

No longer will they call you deserted or name your land desolate, but you will be called. My delight is in her. I wish. I wish Hephzibah didn't sound quite so odd and archaic because it's a beautiful, beautiful thought. My delight is in her and your land. But you are married. Again, think back into chapters 41 to 48. Where is your mother's certificate of divorce? Where is the bill of sale? You are my delight. You are married for the Lord will take delight in you and your land will be married. As a young man marries a young woman, so will your builder marry you as a bride? Groom rejoices over his bride. So will your God rejoice over you. And so we go through the remainder there of Chapter 62, and we see this picture of God's delight in them. Go down to verse ten. Pass through, Pass through the gates. Prepare the way for the people. Build up. Build up the highway. Remove the stones, raise a banner for the nations. Again, if this is the work of a committee, they've really done a good job. No, this is not the work of many. This is the. Mind of a single person using these themes of Highway of Banner. Who's the banner? The banners. The Messiah. Go back to Chapter 11. He is the banner that will be raised to call the nations to himself. He's the banner that is to be raised in your life and mine. I love the chorus that is now a golden oldie. It's only about 30 years old. But anyway, that happens to choruses these days. Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart when the king is in residence there. Isn't that great? Yes.

Yes. Let there be a banner flying from my castle, regardless of all the circumstances, regardless of the threats that there may be from without. The king is at home here. The banner is flying. The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth, say to Daughter Zion, See, your Savior comes. See, His reward is with him. His recompense accompanies him. They will be called the holy people. The redeemed of the Lord. You will be called sought after the city no longer deserted. Now, do you see what I'm saying? I'm saying that 61 four through 6212 is a parallel to chapter 60 there in chapter 60. The emphasis again, is on God's delight in Jerusalem and all that he is going to do with her, making her a light to draw the nations. Here the emphasis is more specifically upon the element of character, of righteousness. What will be that light? That light will be the character of God displayed in you. As an expression of his delight in you. And I want to land on that for just a moment before I leave it. We too often make abiding in Christ a demand. Well, you better abide in Christ. You better do a better job of making Christ at home in your life. No, it's not a demand. It's a glorious promise. Jesus wants to take up residence in me. In you. He wants to abide. He wants to live there. And when you read his high priestly prayer, it's. It's almost frightening. I want you to live in me the same way I live in the father. Really? How can that be? And if you ask me how, I have to tell you, I don't know. But that's what he says. So it's not a demand.

He says, I want to marry you. I want to live in you. That's not bad news. That's good news. Yes, Lord Jesus. Whatever it is that's in the way of your living in me. Take it away. I give it away that you might take up your residence in me. For the sake of the world. You're going to be glad when this series is over because you won't have to listen to me say it anymore. But what is this book about? This book is about. The mission to the nations that the nations might see the reality of God, the glory of God, that the nations might see. This is what life is about. This is who has made us. This is how he acts. This is what he wants for the world. Sin has come in between. But he has done everything necessary to defeat sin. Its effect is consequences, its causes and its results. Good news. Good news. We'll stop there and go further down the ladder in the next lecture. But I have a question. Yes, please. I've been waiting for the right time to ask this, and I'm not sure I'm going to get it, so I think I'll just ask it now. Good. You've been using Grace as a defining. Yes, whatever you want to call that. It is. It is principle. Principle. Thank you. As the defining principle throughout Isaiah, I checked in the Navy only as the word grace once in Isaiah. Exactly. So we need a definition of grace that that we can apply to Isaiah. Yes. Yes. It is God's undeserved favor. It is. And this is where I come in on chapters. 40 to 55 in particular that. There's absolutely no reason why God should say to these people in captivity for their sin.

You are my chosen beloved servant whom I'm going to use to vindicate myself. That's grace, that's undeserved favor. And it's the same way then when we come to it, specifically chapters 49 to 55. God keeps saying no. You deserve to be divorced. You deserve to be sold for your sins. But you haven't been. Undeserved favor. That's grace.